HuffPo Hypes ‘Ancient Christian Gay Marriages’

Never one to miss the chance to smear Christianity and push
gay marriage, the Huffington Post is hyping
a new edition of an old book proposing that the ancient Christian church held
gay marriages.

A sensationalist HuffPo sidebar lead with the teaser:
“Ancient Christians held gay marriages?” On the HuffPo’s Gay Voices page, the
banner was emblazoned with the provocative suggestion: “ANCIENT I DO’S?”
The sub headline made it sound as if the story were breaking news:
“Historian’s claims spark controversy.”

But what was the reason for all the HuffPo excitement?
Fresh-off-the-presses research? Remarkable new discoveries? Incredible new evidence?

Nope. All that’s happening is a two-decades-old publication
by gay historian John Boswell is going to be transferred into digital form.
Boswell’s book, Same-Sex Unions in Pre-Modern Europe, originally published in
1994, proposed that ancient Christians performed gay marriage. The book has
been harshly criticized as inaccurate and highly
questionable.

Even HuffPo had to admit that Boswell’s supposed research
“had many critics” and that his book’s biggest claim to popular approval came
in being cited in the left-wing cartoon Doonesbury. Nevertheless, HuffPo hyped
the “respected” historian who “championed” the idea of gay marriage in the
ancient world, and repeated claims that “many of these unions were similar to
contemporary same-sex weddings.”

“The debate sparked by his research is ongoing,” the HuffPo
article concluded, finishing with a quote from liberal writer Annalee Newitz,
who hoped that “those who have been banished today may be blessed tomorrow – just
as they were over a thousand years ago.”

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